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Lions Club foils MC bid of removing swings from Children Park
Pvt hospitals disobey health authorities on dengue cases
Manhandling of Officials |
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Girls’ school sans principal, lecturers
40 quintals of spurious petha seized
Desert food feast for city
Language meet finds solutions to popularise Punjabi
DC reviews paddy procurement
Neena Kahlon’s book on Partition released
63 cases settled in lok adalat
Sports centres sanctioned
CME on rehabilitation of deaf
Want to save girl child? Dial 4005252
Peace Festival begins today
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Lions Club foils MC bid of removing swings from Children Park
Amritsar, October 13 However, they had to recede after the Lions Club, which had been maintaining the park for the last more than four decades, intervened and threatened legal implication in case the corporation did not halt the illegal act (of removing swings). Earlier, the civic authorities had removed and dismantled several swings put up in the park by the Lions Club after the directions of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which has been entrusted with the work of the preservation and conservation of the historical garden belonging to legendary Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Children Park was developed in a section of lush green garden for poor and middle-class children, who had no any place to play. The place was named as Recreational Park in 1941, which was later taken over by the Lions Club in 1959 with an agreement under which 50 per cent of the charges to maintain the park was to be borne by the then Municipal Committee. However, the corporation failed to provide a single penny for its maintenance, said Sudhir Mehra, a former president of the club. Mehra said while the corporation was bearing the expenditure of the remaining part of the garden, the club was paying huge electricity bills running into thousands of rupees per month of Children Park. He said their motive was not profit making but to provide a place to the children of every class for playing. He said the club spent lakhs of rupees for creating a lake and boating facility, besides putting up swings. Further the lease of the park was to expire in 2019, he added. It is pertinent to mention here that earlier the ASI had directed the corporation to remove all types of encroachment from the historical park, including a coaching academy being run by the Punjab State Lawn Tennis Association for the past 89 years and three clubs, which had written to the Prime Minister for de-notifying the area on lines of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panaroma built by the government. When The Tribune asked the corporation officials present on the spot, they said they were directed by their higher-ups to remove the seesaws and put them up at Sakatri Bagh. When the club threatened them with legal action, the team immediately left the park.
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Pvt hospitals disobey health authorities on dengue cases
Amritsar, October 13 Talking to The Tribune, Civil Surgeon Dr Lehmbar Singh pointed out that the department had issued a circular, besides releasing advertisements in the media, appealing all private hospitals to inform the health authorities and send blood samples of suspected patients to them for confirming whether the patient was suffering from dengue or not. He said the government had provided the necessary dengue testing kits to microbiological department of Government Medical College where tests were conducted free of cost. He said usually IMG and IGG tests carried out by private hospitals did not confirm dengue. Censuring the private hospitals, he said they did not send blood samples to the authorities due to obvious reasons and added that this resulted in unnecessary panic among the public. Meanwhile, Dharampal (69) of the Rani Ka Bagh area was admitted to a local private hospital with symptoms of dengue which was later on confirmed after medical reports, calimed the doctor attending to him. Earlier, Kulwant Rani (40) of the Bharat Nagar area on Batala Road and Varsha (38) of Anand Avenue were admitted in a private hospital here with confirmed dengue about a week back. The doctors attending on the patients said that IMG and IGG tests had confirmed dengue.
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Manhandling of Officials
Tarn Taran, October 13 The officials participating in the protest said the department team which had gone on the instruction of the minister concerned to check the quality of the fertilisers and insecticides at the store of the dealer. It is pertinent to mention here that the employees and the officials of the department are on an agitation path since October, the date of the incident. The raiding party of the department was locked up by the dealer and his sons. Dr Manohar Singh, Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO), presided over the dharna. It was resolved that employees and officials would boycott all duties regarding conducting raids, organising farmer’s training camps and preparing official reports till action is not taken against the erring dealer. The officials wore black badges and shouted slogans against the state government. A memorandum was presented to the Deputy Commissioner by the agitating officials.
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Girls’ school sans principal, lecturers
Tarn Taran, October 13 It is learnt that the school has both the science and humanity streams, including medical and non-medical, commerce and vocation groups. Girls from more than 40 villages come here to get higher education as the school offers the hostel facility as well. A year back it was the only school with a regular principal, but on the promotion of Principal D.K. Mahia as District Education Officer, Tarn Taran has become a district having no regular principal in any school. A large number of vacant posts of lecturer in the local Government Girls Secondary School are badly affecting the education work. The worse affected are the students of the science group (medical) as there is only one lecturer of physics and the posts of lecturer of chemistry and biology have been lying vacant for years now. The same is the position with the non-medical group for which, besides physics and chemistry lecturers, one of the two sanctioned posts of mathematics lecturer is lying vacant. The position in the humanity group is no better in the school. One of the two sanctioned posts of Punjabi lecturer, besides one post each of history, Hindi and political science lecturers, is vacant. Former Municipal Councillor Dr Sukhdev Singh Lauka, in a press statement, has demanded early filling of all the vacant posts of lecturer in the school. Education Secretary G.S. Grewal said the department had given an advertisement and all the vacant posts of lecturer would be filled within one and half months. |
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40 quintals of spurious petha seized
Tarn Taran, October 13 The team was led by Dr Sampuran Singh, District Health Officer, and Dr G.S. Pannu, District Food Inspector. It is learnt that the petha was prepared by a migrant person Gowardhan of UP who was to supply it in the villages of this border district. The officials told that 15 quintals of petha, which was stinking, was destroyed on the spot. The department has taken samples of the petha and has sent to the Chandigarh-based laboratory for testing. The next action would be taken after receiving of the The same team had recovered about 25 quintals of spurious sweets from a Patti-based firm. |
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Desert food feast for city
Amritsar, October 13 The Collage restaurant laid out the finest cuisines prepared by cooks specially brought from Rajasthan who were asked to cook the specialities of various parts of the desert state during the 10-day Rajasthani food festival which opened here today. Arvind K. Sharma, executive chef of the hotel, said the Amritsaris never had the opportunity to taste the highly rated Rajasthani banquet offering dishes with unique taste and flavour enjoyed by the Rajasthani royalty. Culinary specialists from the great land of Rajasthan brought along the ingredients to give a complete taste of the dishes to be devoured by the public of the city. Although Rajasthani food is generally vegetarian, to add some non-vegetarian fare to the list, the hotel had prepared special dishes with Rajasthani flavour for the Punjabi palate - including lal maans, gol maans kachar, murgh palak, murgh ka mokul, etc. Besides dal-bati churma, a speciality of the desert land, all the rich Rajasthani foods were cooked in ghee. The other dishes include kanji ki bahar, kesariya lassi, chaas, raabhri, raj kachori etc.
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Language meet finds solutions to popularise Punjabi
Amritsar, October 13 The view was the outcome of the Folklore Research Academy (FRA), which held a Punjabi Jagriti Sarb Party (all-party Punjabi awareness) meeting here recently. Renowned columnist Kuldip Nayar was of the view that before setting on any kind of movement, a deputation of the academy must meet the government in order to apprise it of the intended activity. He said the decline and popularity of the language was a historic matter and like countries, languages also had to face phases of popularity and decline, which must be taken seriously. Officiating Editor of Punjabi daily Ajit Satnam Singh Manak exhorted leaders of peasant organisations to initiate a campaign to paint slogans in favour of Punjabi. He said these slogans, seeking attention of men, women and children on streets, would catch the fancy of the masses and would help popularise the Punjabi language. Elaborating his idea further, Manak said Punjabi writers must also team up with leaders of various political parties, traders and industrialists for the promotion of Punjabi. Shiromani Punjabi poet Parminderjit elaborated the constant and steadfast efforts of the writers of the Punjabi language who consistently contributed prose and poetry in all forms and flavours.
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DC reviews paddy procurement
Amritsar, October 13 It came out in the meeting that 1.25 lakh tonnes of paddy have been procured in the district so far, out of which the government agencies procured 72,000 tonnes of paddy and the rest by private millers. Government agencies reported that 40,000 tonnes of paddy procured by the agencies have been lifted and payment of it made. He directed the agencies to ensure that each and every grain of paddy in the mandi must be procured immediately and payment of it be made within 48 hours and lifting be ensured within 72 hours, as per the instructions of the government. Marketing Board officials were directed to ensure all facilities to the farmers in the mandis. The Deputy Commissioner intimated that the major area of crop in the district was under Basmati variety of paddy. He said the grievances of farmers in the procurement process would be taken up on priority. He appealed to the peasants to bring dry paddy to the grain markets and not to burn stubble of crops in the field. The representatives of the agencies intimated that many private millers from even outside the district had been allowed to procure paddy from the district mandis and therefore there would be no problem in the procurement operation in the district.
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Neena Kahlon’s book on Partition released
Amritsar, October 13 The book was released at a function in a hotel here. The function was presided over by the former Governor of Bihar and Kerala, R.L. Bhatia. Speaking on the occasion, Bhatia recalled his experiences of the holocaust during the Partition, which had rendered more than 1 million dead and several million more homeless. Talking about the book, Neena said the book weaved a tail of horror and love, heartaches and hope with honest and creative prose. She said this was her first book and planned to write more such stories bringing Neena was born and brought up in Amritsar. She did her schooling and college education here and later her Masters in English literature from Panjab University, Chandigarh. She migrated to the USA with her husband in 1974 and had two sons. The guest of honour at the book-release function, Deputy Commissioner K.S. Pannu, said the book should be an eyeopener for the young generation, who would understand the horror of the Partition. He said the present generation must learn from the history where a large population faced the trauma of being displaced from their homes.
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63 cases settled in lok adalat
Amritsar, October 13 More than Rs 11 lakh was warded as compensation in the cases in the adalat organised by the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA). R.L. Chohan, civil judge senior division-cum-secretary, DLSA, said 12 benches were constituted to settle civil, criminal, matrimonial, MACT, rent, 138 NI Act cases. Social workers and advocates of the city court were inducted as members to assist |
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This Divali worship ‘electronically’
Amritsar, October 13 There are thousands of electronic items meant only to be sold in the festival season. People are showing keen interest in them. Due to the spiralling prices of oil and ghee, people are preferring electronic lights for lighting up their houses as they are cheap and pollution-free. However, traditionalists still prefer diyas (earthen lamps) during Divali. Gopal, a seller of electronic jyots, said the prices range from Rs 50 to Rs 5,000. People preferred Chinese items as they were cheap as compared to the diyas of desi ghee and oil. He said that there are thousands of items which were replacing diyas.
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Sports centres sanctioned
Amritsar, October 13 Dr Kanwaljit Singh, Director, Sports, GND University, informing this said the Sports Authority of India (SAI) had established STC extensions centres at DAV College here in weightlifting and judo, in which 20 boys and girls (10 each) would be enrolled. He said similarly for sportswomen the centres would be at the BBK DAV College for Women here. Dr Kanwaljit Singh said the SAI had further acceded to the demand of the university and extension centres of basketball, volleyball, kho-kho and kabaddi, weightlifting and athletics had been established on the university campus. The trials for these centres would be organised within a week, he added. He said the students from all over India were eligible to appear for the selection trials. The incentive attached to the scheme was that every student would get Rs 600 per month while Rs 4,000 and Rs 3,000 would be given per head for kit and competition, respectively. The institutions having these centres would be provided Rs 5,000 per head for the development of the infrastructure. Students born after January 1, 1989, are eligible for admission under these schemes. They could be enrolled in schools as well as colleges.
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CME on rehabilitation of deaf
Amritsar, October 13 Dr R.C. Deka, Director, AIIMS, New Delhi, was the chief guest on the occasion, while Justice Nirmaljit Kaur was the guest of honour. Dr Deka stressed on creating more infrastructure for the treatment of deaf persons, besides urging the people to become more sensitive towards the deaf population which had been neglected till now. Meanwhile, a free check-up camp was held today at the branch in which 123 patients were examined by a team of ENT experts from the region. More than 150 ENT specialists from the country deliberated on various issues of deafness. Dr Prem Kakkar, ex-Director and Principal of Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, was awarded the Bhagat Puran Singh Lifetime Achievement award on the occasion. Meanwhile, Gurmeet Singh Pannu, an NRI from England, announced a donation of Rs 8 lakh for building infrastructure for the treatment of deaf children in the Manawala complex of Pingalwara. |
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Students exhibit Divali products
Amritsar, October 13 DC Kahan Singh Pannu inaugurated the exhibition and praised the students for their talent and said through this type of exhibition students get good exposure and confidence to work. College principal Neelam Kamra said the whole work has done by students and staff and the profit will be distributed in both.
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Want to save girl child? Dial 4005252
Amritsar, October 13 The district has received three complaints in all since the inception of the hotline on October 8. Civil Surgeon Dr Lehmbar Singh said after conducting a thorough inquiry into the two complaints, reports have been forwarded to Chandigarh while one of the complaints was pertaining to sewerage not relating to the department. He said, however, neither female foeticide nor infanticide complaint had been reported on the hotline from the district so far. He said in the other two complaints, two female infants had died naturally. A teacher, Inder Singh Maan, welcoming the introduction of hotline, said it would help women protesting against forceful female foeticide. The entire set-up of receiving the calls on hotline is established at Chandigarh while they pass on the complaints to the District Health Officer concerned who, after tracing the caller’s location on the map, send a woman health worker to her house
for intervention. Credited as India’s first public health call centre, it was initiated as a pilot project in Punjab under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). The community hotline service is a 9 am to 6 pm telephone service which gives residents an opportunity to get their grievances and suggestions registered. After dialling the hotline, the caller has to follow instructions which are in Punjabi. The caller has to answer the first three options on female foeticide. The hotline is drafted to give helpless women a voice to inform the department concerned in the time of distress. Hence, they can speak up in case they are being forced to get their female foetus aborted. The voice of the caller is filtered to the listener electronically and the incoming call number is blocked. No one can know who is calling till the caller chooses to identify herself.
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Peace Festival begins today
Amritsar, October 13 The SAF, founded by UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Madanjeet Singh, works for peace. Similarly, the Saanjh festival, initiated five years ago in Lahore and Amritsar, was brain child of late Manveen Sandhu and Faizaan Peerzada. The festival has also extended its venue to include Preet Nagar, the rural utopia of the 20th century. On October 16, the peace festival would see schoolchildren from Amritsar and Lahore converging on both sides of the Attari-Wagah joint check post and painting a peace collage aptly named “Painting for peace”. Divali would be celebrated by distributing sweets among children at Preet Nagar on October 17, while SAF peace festival would be formally inaugurated on the next day at the same place where a documentary on Preet Nagar, produced by Doordarshan, and “Akhian Waleo”, a theatre production by Rafi Peer Theater workshop, Lahore, would be shown. At the same venue, “Sing Along Kafi”, “Sain Zahoor” and a puppet show, “Baccha Jamoora” would be held on October 19. The next on schedule would be a four-day film festival on the theme of peace from October 19 at Art Gallery. “Kaku”, a film on child labour and “Kehru Dus Nambaria”, a theatre production by Kewal Dhaliwal, would be presented at Preet Nagar on October 20. “Ghasiram Kotwal”, a production by the National School of Drama Repertory Company, would be enacted at BBK DAV College on October 22.
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1st standard girl hits gold
Amritsar, October 13 Coach Amit Chopda said students of Punjab and Haryana participated in the competition and gave a very good performance. Gurpal Anand, Principal of the school pointed out that the government should promote it.
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Even as the civil court has granted a stay on removing of Children Park from the historic Ram Bagh, men from the Municipal Corporation tried to remove the swings and seesaws installed in the park to fix them in some other park.
